First Things First…
I read this the first time when I was in high school. My older sister and brother had it assigned, and I was waiting for my class to read it junior or senior year, but we never did. So I took it upon myself.
I read it a second time one of my last years teaching. I pushed to add it to the syllabus for a class of freshmen and sophomores, and we started reading it in October. In fact, I remember reading it while bundled up in blankets in my freezing apartment when I lost power and heat for 10 days after Hurricane Sandy.
I loved it both times. I admit, it’s not my favorite vampire book—that’s Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, which I’m excited to review in the future. But there are a lot of scenes—especially ones involving Dracula himself—that I can still picture vividly.
11 Things I Like
11. Now We Hunt Dracula
To me, the book is divided into three sections:
- Jonathan Harker’s imprisonment in Dracula’s castle in Transylvania
- Lucy’s illness and the discovery of the evil they’re up against
- The hunt for Dracula
I like the clean break after the “true death” of Vampire Lucy. That’s when Van Helsing says…
“Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in it, and pain. Shall you not all help me?”
Even though what happened to Lucy broke their hearts, and was scary enough in its own right, this is his way of telling them shit’s about to get real. And from this point forward, the book turns into an investigation and hunt. Speaking of which…
10. Investigating
The crew’s hunt for Dracula requires a lot of detective work.
They track down the boxes of dirt he imported to England from his castle…
They follow paper trails and then break into Dracula’s residences to sterilize that dirt so he can’t rest in it…
When they realize he’s left England, they follow more paper trails to find out what ship he’s on and what route it’s taking…
I mean, who doesn’t love a good paper trail??
Seriously, it might not sound overly exciting—especially for literature’s most famous vampire novel. But I find the investigations fascinating, and a good complement to the story’s horror.
9. One Son, One Equal
Van Helsing loves all the main characters who are part of the “team.”
But there’s an interesting comparison between the way he views Arthur and Dr. Seward.
Both men love Lucy, and both lose her. But in Arthur’s case, since she chose him, he loses his fiancé. I think that’s why Van Helsing views Arthur as a surrogate son. And he wants to protect him as he’d protect his own son.
Seward, meanwhile, is a former medical student of his who now runs the asylum. Van Helsing views him as an equal. He confides more in Seward than in anyone else. And in many cases, he asks Seward to take on more than anyone else.
There’s no less love for Seward. It’s just different. And it makes for a compelling dynamic among these three men.
8. The Last Voyage of the Demeter
I’m ripping off the title of the new movie, which I just saw and didn’t love, sadly. But I think it’s cool they fleshed out this one chapter from the book and turned it into a movie, because it’s a badass chapter.
This is the captain’s log of the Demeter—the ship that brings Dracula to England—and it’s thrilling. Crewmen disappear every night, everyone recognizes there’s evil on board, and they’re all deathly afraid.
7. Freed from a Curse
Despite the power it brings, being a vampire is a curse.
We see this with Lucy, and then with Dracula. It turned them evil. We already knew Lucy was good when she was alive. But Dracula isn’t inherently evil, either.
Mina actually pities Dracula, even after he attacks them…
“That poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when he too is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him too, though it may not hold your hands from his destruction.”
Jonathan doesn’t want to hear it. He’s out for blood, although he recognizes Mina is the better person because of her outlook. And she turns out to be right.
Ultimately, there’s a lot of religion and talk of God in this book. And this idea that anyone—even Dracula—can be redeemed goes hand in hand with it.
6. Dracula the Bookworm
You have to admire Dracula’s work ethic.
Jonathan picks up on it right away when he’s helping him at the castle. He sees Dracula has studied so much about England and the English way of life, and that he’s thought through every scenario.
Dracula knows a ton about real estate and the business deals he’s entering. He also knows languages. And he wants to study, practice, and learn the customs and ways to the point where he won’t seem like a foreigner in England.
I love this aspect of his personality because it seems to run counter to the more horrifying things about him. Most people probably wouldn’t think of a monster like Dracula as a bookworm, but that’s what he is.
5. From Bookish to Badass
Jonathan is just an ordinary man. He starts out bookish and not very imposing. And yet, he becomes something more.
He becomes a badass once he recovers and allows himself to remember everything he went through in Dracula’s castle. Surviving and escaping was daring enough. But once Mina is in danger, he becomes almost psychotic. He has his hunting knife with him all the time. He’s ready for a fight with Dracula. He even says that if they can’t save Mina and she dies and turns into a vampire, he’ll allow himself to become one, too. You have to love that commitment to the cause, and to his wife.
4. Renfield
With the investigation and caring for the sick taking up so much space in the book, it often feels like we’re getting away from the horror elements.
Renfield brings us back to the horror.
Whether it’s him as a zoophagous—eating flies and spiders and even birds—his superhuman strength, or his sociopathy that causes him to attack Dr. Seward with a knife and requires multiple orderlies to restrain him, he never has a dull moment.
But he can also be a total gentleman, both to Seward and to Mina when she visits him.
I’m not 100% clear on why Dracula even wants Renfield, or how he serves Dracula, but it’s at least clear enough that Renfield has a connection to him. And when Dracula disappears for long stretches of the book, Renfield serves as connective tissue, allowing Dracula to still loom over the story.
3. Friendship and Sacrifice
These themes are touched on again and again. Especially because first Lucy and then Mina are infected by Dracula.
In Lucy’s case, when only Van Helsing seems to have a clue why she’s sick, the men give her multiple blood transfusions—each of which takes a physical toll on them.
They also sacrifice time, and rest, and ultimately when they hunt her down in her tomb and destroy her, they’re doing awful, awful work—terribly traumatic work, especially for Arthur—to free her from the vampire’s curse.
We see it again when Mina is infected and they hunt Dracula. It’s pretty amazing that they chase him all the way back to Transylvania to save her.
2. Vampire in London
Part of me wishes Dracula was in the book more. But he feels special because his appearances are limited.
Every single time he’s on the page, it’s a thrill.
Even a short scene, like when Jonathan and Mina spot him in London for the first time, from a distance, which lasts less than a page, is spectacular. Check out Mina’s description as Jonathan, suddenly terrified, points him out…
“[Jonathan] was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty girl… His face was not a good face; it was hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal’s. Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice.”
And Jonathan’s amazement and terror stem from more than just seeing Dracula. The obvious transformation Jonathan notices scares him even worse as he says…
“I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be so! Oh, my God! My God! If I only knew! If I only knew!”
That scene packs a wallop with very few words!
And later, after Dracula has continued to stalk and terrorize their group, we witness another horrifying scene. Jonathan walks in on Dracula with Mina hypnotized, and she’s feeding on him from a wound he opened in his own chest.
There’s a reason Dracula is such an enduring character, and we see it in every appearance, no matter how brief.
1. From the Pages of Jonathan Harker’s Diary
My favorite part of the book is tied to the previous point. It’s the first four chapters of the book, which cover Jonathan’s journey to Dracula’s castle and the entire time he spends there, until his escape.
At first, Jonathan believes the people he meets on the road are just superstitious when they implore him not to go to the castle. But by the end of chapter 2, he realizes he’s a prisoner.
From there, things take even more bizarre turns as recognition of his predicament slowly dawns on him.
He meets Dracula’s brides, who almost feed on him, and who he overhears Dracula promise him to. He also sees Dracula leave the castle through a window and scale the wall vertically, like a lizard. He sees that Dracula casts no reflection in a mirror. He notices that Dracula is lying about his servants—he doesn’t have any—and he realizes Dracula doesn’t eat.
It all adds up to a terrifying experience that truly drives him insane for a time. And it culminates in Jonathan’s treacherous trip out his own window and into Dracula’s, and back again. He finds Dracula in a coffin, though he can’t harm him.
It’s a little surprising the first four chapters are the longest extended period of horror in the book. We never get this much scary, unnerving stuff for prolonged times again.
But as my 11th– and 12th-grade English teacher said when I told her I was going to read this, this opening stretch of the book is some of the most exhilarating prose ever written.
4 Things I’m Mixed On
4. Arthur’s Time Away
As Lucy suffers, her fiancé, Arthur, isn’t with her very much. That’s because his father is also dying, and eventually dies.
I’m not sure what Stoker was looking to accomplish with this wrinkle.
Lucy has three men in love with her (plus Van Helsing adores her, too). In addition to Arthur, there’s also Dr. Seward and Quincey. And with Arthur away from her, it gives the others—especially Seward—the chance to wait on her more.
But is this just so we can see the depth of devotion she inspires from multiple men?
Is it to really put the screws to Arthur, so he seems even more sympathetic?
There’s nothing wrong with the way it plays out… but I wonder if it would’ve been more effective if Lucy’s fiancé had been with her the whole time.
3. No Mystery for Us
Maybe there’s no way around this without changing the story’s whole structure…
But something occurred to me as I read the section after Lucy’s natural death, where they gaze in amazement at how she’s grown even more beautiful in the tomb. The others don’t understand yet that she’s been turned into a vampire… but wouldn’t it have been cool if WE didn’t know the truth, and there was an element of mystery for us, too?
It just feels a little flatter when the characters around Lucy are dumbfounded but we know the truth.
2. Dracula Still Testing His Powers
I love the idea of Dracula pushing his limits and testing his powers. But I question the way it’s presented here.
It’s true that, as an immortal being, he can bide his time. But why is he just now starting to figure shit out, when he’s hundreds of years old?
I already said how much I like that he studies, prepares, and does his due diligence for everything that’s important to him.
It seems to me that testing his powers should’ve gone hand in hand with that, not be something that he waits to figure out until he’s just about ready to travel.
1. Is Quincey Necessary?
Despite having some cool traits, I’m not sure Quincey is necessary to the story.
He becomes more important toward the end. In one scene after they’ve destroyed or sterilized most of Dracula’s coffins, Dracula arrives at one of his houses where the men are waiting for him.
As Quincey takes charge, Dr. Seward says…
“I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be renewed instinctively. With a swift glance round the room, he at once laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a gesture, placed us each in position.”
I love this characterization. But why couldn’t we have gotten something like this to let us know who Quincey really is—beyond just being from Texas and loving Lucy—150 pages earlier? Instead, it comes four chapters from the end.
Eventually, Quincey is the one who delivers the death blow to Dracula, dying himself in the process. So at the end of the book, we learn that Jonathan and Mina name their son Quincey.
All that seems vital.
But I wish he was more fleshed out throughout the story. And since he’s not, I wonder whether his characteristics—and his killing of Dracula and being the namesake of the child—could’ve been given to Arthur.
5 Things I Don’t Like
5. Why Does Dracula Wear Jonathan’s Suit?
There’s a scene in Jonathan’s diary, as he’s figuring out he’s a prisoner and that Dracula intends on letting his brides kill/turn him, where he sees Dracula leave the castle wearing Jonathan’s suit as a disguise.
Dracula returns with a child to be preyed on, and Jonathan worries he’s being framed. But does that even make sense?
I mean, if Dracula plans on having him killed, why would it matter?
And aren’t the villagers who live near the castle already terrified of Dracula?
If they know an evil creature lives there, will they suddenly think someone else is responsible for the terrible acts Dracula commits?
The pointlessness of Dracula’s charade is even proven, because Jonathan escapes the castle, gets back into the world, yet nothing ever comes of Dracula’s escapades in his suit.
4. Tough Dialects
There are a few parts in which characters speak in their native dialect. And although that makes their dialogue more authentic, it’s so hard to read.
The most glaring example is the old man at the cemetery who Lucy briefly befriends, before Dracula seemingly gets to him. There are a few pages of him talking a lot, and it’s painful to get through.
3. No Final Fight
Dracula’s destruction is a little anticlimactic because there’s no final fight. Any drama comes from the heroes fighting the locals as they try to get to Dracula—that’s how Quincey is mortally wounded—and from a race against the clock to kill Dracula before the sun goes down.
Maybe their fight with Dracula in London, at the residence where they set up an ambush, is meant as a substitute for a final fight. But for such an amazing book, the ending feels lacking because of this.
2. Van Helsing’s Bad Judgment
I got so frustrated with Van Helsing multiple times as he continued to keep his suspicions to himself.
Not just Lucy’s life, but her very SOUL is on the line, yet he insists on playing things close to the chest. He tells people what to do but not why.
Think about how many times Lucy gets worse, all the blood transfusions the men give her, and at least some of them could’ve been avoided if others had been more careful—which they likely would have been if they had more information.
Like when Dracula breaks in in his wolf form—frightening Lucy’s mother to death—it’s because Lucy’s mother removed all the garlic. If Van Helsing had just told her, “Hey, that stinky shit’s the only thing we have to keep the VAMPIRE from attacking your daughter again,” she probably wouldn’t have made that mistake!
Van Helsing is so wise and learned, yet he doesn’t trust enough.
And I actually get his reasoning. It’s not that he thinks anyone is untrustworthy. He just believes they won’t be able to comprehend the unnatural threat they’re facing without proof.
But there comes a point when you have to lay your cards on the table so everyone gets on the same page. And for someone as smart as him, it should’ve come much sooner.
1. MORE Dirt?! (And Other Repetitive Plot Points)
There are three things that get repetitive—Lucy’s blood transfusions, searching for Dracula’s boxes of dirt, and hypnotizing Mina.
If Van Helsing had been more forthcoming with information, maybe Dracula wouldn’t have kept getting into Lucy’s bedroom, so she wouldn’t have needed so many transfusions. Then, her death and turning could’ve happened after just one or two attacks. It didn’t need to take so long. So I feel like this is something that could’ve been avoided.
The dirt issue I’m not as sure about. Having 50 boxes shipped and scattered around London is part of Dracula’s brilliance. So to change that in an effort to be less repetitive would’ve also changed his strategy.
Lastly, there’s the hypnosis Van Helsing continues to perform on Mina after she’s been attacked by Dracula and has a connection to him (and is slowly turning). It makes sense that they keep trying to use her to get information. It’s just a little dry—especially when, the longer this goes on, the harder it is to hypnotize her and the less time they have to talk with her while she’s in a trance.
Tim Matassa
